The study will explore the how thermal mechanical boundary conditions play a role in the ablative technique in the pelvic region.

在过去的二十年中，在局部麻醉下进行热消融治疗腿部静脉回流非常成功。在过去的十年中，随着盆腔静脉反流的诊断，身体其他部位静脉反流疾病的治疗得到了改善，目前使用双重超声诊断，这是Whiteley诊所（TWC）开发的金标准技术。目前的治疗方法是线圈栓塞。TWC和萨里大学最近的合作开发了一种新的热消融技术来治疗盆腔静脉；然而，骨盆区域的性质（如果静脉穿孔，则直接接触主要器官）意味着在将新方法引入人类临床应用之前，必须进行重要的开发和验证工作。本博士将通过构建骨盆静脉回流患者腹部组织的精确热传导模型来开发这项新技术。这些模型将从患者的扫描中开发出来，并在通过ANSYS或COMSOL等有限元分析软件进行分析之前重建为3D模型。血管中的血流也需要模拟，因为它在动态温度分布中起着同样重要的作用。最近发表在离散脉管系统模型上的研究已被证明不适合临床应用；需要一种有效的基于温度的优化方法，包括考虑生化环境以及所有其他边界条件的骨盆区域离散血管的热力学效应。该研究将探索热机械边界条件如何在骨盆区域的烧蚀技术中发挥作用，其中整个骨盆区域的动态温度分布，这对于评估在骨盆区域引入热烧蚀技术的风险至关重要。更重要的是，它将设法确保在静脉内使用的烧蚀能量不会影响正在治疗的静脉周围的主要器官。这将允许安全，风险评估的新热技术的可行性，建议开发到下一阶段的产品开发。

Venous reflux in the legs has been treated very successfully in the past two decade using thermal ablation conducted under local anaesthetic. The treatment of venous reflux disease elsewhere in the body has improved in the last decade with the diagnosis of pelvic venous reflux, currently diagnosed using duplex ultrasound the gold standard technique developed at The Whiteley Clinic (TWC). This is currently treated by coil embolization. Recent work between TWC and the University of Surrey has led to the development of a new thermal ablation technique to treat pelvic veins; however, the nature of the pelvic region (where if the vein perforates, there is direct contact to major organs) means that significant development and validation work must be done before the new approach can be introduced for human clinical use. This PhD will develop this new technique by constructing an accurate model of thermal conduction through the tissues of the abdomens of patients suffering with pelvic venous reflux. These models will be developed from patient scans and the reconstructed into 3D models before being analysed by finite element analysis software such as ANSYS or COMSOL. Blood flow in the vessels will also need to be simulated, as it plays an equally important role in the dynamic temperature profile. Recent studies published on Discrete Vasculature Models have proven impractical for clinical applications; there is a need for efficient temperature based optimisation method including thermal mechanical effect of discrete vasculature in the pelvic region taking the biochemical environment as well as all the other boundary conditions. The study will explore the how thermal mechanical boundary conditions play a role in the ablative technique in the pelvic region, where the dynamic temperature distribution across the pelvic region, which is of extreme importance in assessing the risk of introducing a thermal ablative technique in an area of the pelvis. More importantly, it will seek to ensure that the ablative energy used within the vein will not affect the major organs that are around the veins that are being treated. This will allow for safe, risk assessed feasibility of the new thermal technique proposed to be developed to the next stage of product development.